Featured Image Credit: Instagram/splashtownbleu
Topics: Crime, Sex and Relationships, US News
Chelsea Connor
Topics: Crime, Sex and Relationships, US News
A woman who married her prison pen pal has clapped back at criticism branding her ‘delusional’.
True love is rare, and it seems like most of us would do just about anything to be one of the lucky ones that manage to find it.
Newlywed Bleu faces a unique set of challenges when it comes to keeping the love alive, after she married her prison boyfriend after just a year of speaking on the phone and having only met once before.
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After making the decision to write a prisoner via a US pen pal service, she explained she ‘was not up for a relationship’, but after speaking to inmate Jay everyday through phone and letter, she ended up falling in love with him.
Husband Jay is serving a 30 year sentence, and was jailed at just 17 years old. He is eligible for parole in four years time, as the couple anxiously await starting a life together, with Bleu telling the Love Don’t Judge Podcast: "He was sentenced to 30 years at the age of 17. He's done 11 so far and he has to do 15 to be eligible for parole, which is going to be February 2028; If that is denied then every six months after that he comes up for review, so there’s no telling how much time he has left."
The couple married in a ‘proxy wedding’ - a marriage in where one of the individuals aren’t physically present or are being represented by another person - after speaking to each other multiple times a day for a year.
Although the couple are looking forward to a future together, they still feel misunderstood by family and friends as Bleu broke the news to her family over the phone and admitted she was ‘scared’ of their reaction.
Bleu said: “I think my biggest regret when getting married was the fact that my parents weren't there. I told them over the phone because I was scared of looking them in the eye and seeing the disappointment in my dad's face.
"I didn't grow up as a little girl and be like, Oh, I want to be with an inmate. Like, that sounds so cool'."
As the pair prepare for the future - with Jay has promising to ‘spoil her rotten’ when he’s released as he has big plans to start his own business - the couple still face online backlash which Bleu believes comes down to her appearance.
“I've seen other prison wives and if they're skinnier, prettier, more societally attractive, they're considered 'ride or die' but because they see me I'm automatically considered dumb and stupid."